Professor John Paterson, Vice-Principal for Internationalisation at the University of Aberdeen, delivered a lecture titled ‘Legal Models for the Development of Oil & Gas: What options does the state have?’ at The American University of Beirut (AUB) in an event organised by The Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) and Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance.
Professor Paterson trained as a solicitor in the Office of the Solicitor to the Secretary of State for Scotland before pursuing an academic career. After studying at the EUI, Florence, Italy, he was a Research Assistant at the Centre de Philosophie du Droit, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium, where he worked principally on the Governance Project with the Forward Studies Unit of the European Commission. He was Senior Lecturer and then Reader at the University of Westminster between 1998 and 2004 when he joined the University of Aberdeen as a Reader. He was appointed Professor of Law in August 2011. He co-directs the Centre for Energy Law as well as Aberdeen’s involvement in the North Sea Energy Law Programme with Greg Gordon.
His research has covered systems theory, the regulation of risk, governance in the EU, corporate governance and energy law. He has been involved in a number of international projects both in research and teaching. He has provided specialist training in oil and gas law and corporate governance for the corporate sector, expert advice in international arbitration, and consultancy to international organisations. He is series editor (together with Professor Julian Webb) of the Law, Science and Society series published by Routledge-Cavendish.
2017 represents the sixth year of the Rami Makhzoumi Chair in Corporate Governance which was endowed by Rami’s parents in memory of their son, Rami Makhzoumi, who passed away at the age of 33 in April 2011. The Chair is devoted to promoting accountability and good corporate governance practices in businesses. The aim is to bring governance education and practice to new levels in the region through the dissemination of corporate governance knowledge, relevant research, and exposure to tangible experiences of good and bad governance. Rami was the driving force in developing governance practices at his family business and was known for having prioritised ethics and accountability in his work.
In attendance were Rami’s parents, Mr Fouad and Mrs May Makhzoumi, along with several senior members of Lebanon’s energy and banking sectors.
